Voyar FROG

Many diseases, injuries or birth defects affect the mobility of children, such as neuromuscular disorders, paralysis, spinal cord injuries, and the most frequent, cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy alone has an incidence of 3.6/1,000 live births in developed nations; it is increasing due to better survival of premature babies. Compromised mobility of children represents a drastic impact in terms of social interaction and quality of life. Gait trainers or walkers are established tools to provide support and stability to these patients; however more sophisticated solutions for gait training and mobility will improve therapy success and quality of life.

Key problems identified with clinicians and therapists were: The need for frequent rest of users; enabling automous transition from standing to sitting (rest) and vice versa without leaving the walker; directional stability and control of the device; reduce need to replace equipement by providing large size adjustment ranges ranges for users while growing. Design solutions for these problems were explored and tested in lab prototypes. Through many such iterations a product was progressively developed.

FROG addresses fatigue and eliminates the need for frequent assisted transfers out of the gait trainer in therapy when using conventional devices by incorporating a resting seat. An integrated, patented weight-compensation mechanism enables easy and autonomous transition from sitting to standing and vice versa. When seated, the compensation mechanism exercises a counter force against the weight of the user, thus assisting the user in standing up (which is particularly hard for children with such conditions). The mechanism provides space for walking and easy access for the next deployment, stabilizing the user also in transition to sitting from standing position.

For directional control an innovative caster limit feature allows the therapist to incrementally increase swivelling freedom of the castering front wheels as therapy progresses (even one-sided), balancing stability with directional control. The adjustment range of the frame exceeds what is available in the market and allows to adjust not only height of frame, seat and armrests, but also the frame width (which is unique), allowing the device to grow with the child. Besides its application in therapy, the FROG walker is very useful to users who want more autonomy when away from home. It addresses the need for frequent rest without having to resort to a wheel chair. Wheel chair use often compromises self-directed mobility and autonomy among children. Roaming around with the FROG increases social interaction, level of physical activity and sense of satisfaction, fostering physical, mental and social development.